


Jaunts Between Quandaries

by Guivre_Rose



Category: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy X-2
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 12:30:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3810484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guivre_Rose/pseuds/Guivre_Rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place In-Game inbetween scenes. After Yeavon's betrayal, there are no boundaries left as Yuna's pilgrimage approaches its end. To Yuna, she's grateful she was able to know what it was like to be in love. But Tidus won't believe their new relationship is only to satiate what could of been. (Explicit for Later)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jaunts Between Quandaries

**Author's Note:**

> How about that Final Fantasy X HD Remaster, huh! Pulled me RIGHT back into this fandom, I gotta say. Though, I have to say how disappointed in the content of fics available! I remember there being a lot more oh so many years ago. So either they're all gone, or I'm not looking where I should be.  
> I haven't written much in, quite literally, years. You'll have to forgive......a lot. I don’t have any betas, to which I both don’t know how to go about that and I am too nervous to even bother.  
> It’s strictly for my own amusement, anyways.  
> And because I'm very unsatisfied with the lack of fics, I rolled up my sleeves and finally got my own hands dirty. Here's my rusty contribution to FFX Tidus/Yuna fanfictions.  
> As such, I don't own anything to do with Final Fantasy X, or any version of it. If I did, I can tell you now that X-2 would of been done very differently.

* * *

 

"Whoa!" Tidus yelped and dove out of the way before burly ogre had a chance to slam its tree-trunk sized arms into his head.

"Watch it!" Wakka scolded, hurtling his blitzball at the ogre's shoulder in attempts in drawing attention away from Tidus. Even as the spikes on the blitzball tore off a few chunks of muscle, it was ineffective to distract the fiend.

It was largely due to Tidus having severely infuriating it not moments ago.

It started when Tidus had kicked a winning shot with one of Rikku's grenades ("You could of blown your leg off, **tebcred**!") and ultimately turned it into a beast coated in sharp rock shrapnels. Naturally, the ogre had it out for the blitzball ace after that stunt. And yet, Tidus persisted to taunt the fiend with by more daring stunts.

Tidus caught a squeaking noise in his throat, and instead used the breath to help heave his body into another backflip to dodge a mean hook punch swinging for him. Unfortunately, the shrapnels of rock that had made the ogre resemble a pincushion, ended up grazing his leg.

Tidus hissed out in response to the surprise scratch, but it wasn't deep enough to cause issue, in his "professional opinion." Even as blood dribbled out from the half inch deep gash, he stood up straight to ignore the clawing pain, and cocked his head at the ogre.

"The hell's your problem, ugly!?" Tidus scoffed loudly, taunting him further with a jerk of his hand.

"Stop pissing it off!" Rikku shouted. The Al Bhed rouge was getting worry was spiking with how the battle was playing out. Tidus recklessness was in direct correlation the closer they approached Mount Gagzet's towering mountains. Rikku ducked out from the ogre's stumbling form and went skidding on the gravel after swiping another stolen item for her stash.

"Watch this!" Tidus announced, approving the distance between himself and the ogre. And just like a chocobo out of the corral, he bolted right for the ogre.

"Stop! Idiot!" Auron roared as he saw the murderous look in the ogre's beady eyes. The fiend took a step back and raised its massive arms up in a solid boxer's stance, hands guarding its face for Tidus' impending assault.

The ogre nearly hit Tidus completely in front, its hand alone was entire size of the teenager himself. But Tidus was quicker and jumped perfectly in time, onto its unintentionally offered hand and ran up the hairy arm. He half laughed, half yelled as he cut heavily into the ogre's neck. What with the thick shoulder muscles, it was nowhere near enough to behead it. He jumped to the other shoulder, making a fool of the ogre as his grunted and clumsily tried to grab him. Laughing, Tidus struck its biceps, trying to hit essential points to disarm its heavy fist attacks. The ogre garbling in pain, though it didn't sound nearly as anguished as it should have. Tidus was about to jump off its shoulder in quick escape, but the Ogre reached and succeed to take hold of his ankle.

"Whoooa! _Sssshit_!" Tidus blurted as he came swinging down, the world vaulting over his head as he dangled helplessly. He took a desperate swing at the ogre's ribs, but it only grazed the livid ogre by a few inches deep. Not enough to even make it flinch. The fiend snarled and let out a wicked bark as it heaved Tidus over and slammed him into the rock wall.

All the air rushed out of his body and Tidus' eyes bulged from the crushing sensation erupting from his back. All of the vertebrae in his spine shuddered in agony, pain blooming out to his nerves and so forth. Everything suddenly became brighter, as if the sun had emerged from the clouds. It made him feel instantly sick, near enough to vomit.

He crumpled to the ground, noise deafening around him. He groaned painfully, his body screaming at him to not dare not move. He ignored the instinct, of course.

After all, Guardians laughed at pain.

He was almost on his feet until the ogre's hand slammed into him again, causing him to roll and tumble over a nearby edge. Luckily, it wasn't further into the gorge, but just a slope leading to a sunken platform area. As the furious ogre barrelled after him, Tidus dizzily looking around for his blasted sword. Thankfully, his foot felt the handle.

The blue fiend was about hammer a fist down in unison of it jumping down to the platform, but Tidus propelled himself up. Instead of dodging, Tidus yelled and in a fluid motion worthy of an expert swordsman and slashed at the ogre's coming fist. Some of the fingers flew off, causing the ogre to balk at losing its phalanges. The ogre misstepped and tumbled down a trap crater.

"Finally stopped ya, huh?!" Tidus gloated, staggering to his feet. His head felt wet and sticky, and his left eye burned with heat. He shut the eye, rendered useless, as he wiped his arm quickly over his hot face. His own blood smeared off, painting his forearm in a dark crimson. More blood quickly slide down his face and quickly replacing that which he just wiped off, spilling off his chin and steadily soaking his shirt and shoulder pad.

"TIDUS!" Rikku and Wakka shouted from above. Tidus didn't look in their direction, but waved a hand as the ogre was stomping towards the blitzball player again. It clearly had no intention of leaving for the Farplane unless Tidus accompanied it.

"Oh, you guys are still here?" Tidus chimed sarcastically, but with a friendly pink-stained smirk. The Al Bhed and Auroch were both cussing up a storm for him, each in two separate languages.

"Sometimes I think you're _worse_ than Jecht." Auron growled, his voice coming from over his shoulder. Tidus snorted a laugh.

"Always great to know all the things I've surpassed my old at!"

Auron gripped Tidus by the hood, dragging him off his feet.

"H-hey!" Tidus cried out, the ogre now mere feet away as it clambered out of the crater. "It's right there, Auron!"

With some superhuman strength Tidus was partially disgusted to have witness, Auron threw him back on top of the ledge ("Seriously?! With _one_ arm!?" Tidus choked). The blonde teenager groaned, feeling sharp pains tingle up his back and blotching his vision. He mildly heard the scuffle of what was definitely Auron making work of the fiend as Wakka and Rikku were dragging him to his feet. Tidus' insides tightened up, and he felt a sharp and scraping sensation prompting him to cough up something hot and wet.

"Man! He messed you up good, brudda." Wakka's voice was drenched with worry.

"Ah, when did that happen?" Tidus faked innocence even as he glanced at the blood coating his hand and dripping from his mouth.

"Yunie's gonna worry herself sick when she sees you!" Rikku's voice was cracking slightly with emotion, but at the mention of Yuna, Tidus tore himself away from their supporting arms.

"I'm fine. Got a Hi-Potion, Rikku?" He held out bloody and gloved hand immediately. "She doesn't have to know."

Rikku's jaw dropped, and Wakka creased disapproving frown.

“I think Yuna ought to take a look at you, brudda.”

Rikku nodded numbly in agreement, biting her lip as her eyes darted between Tidus’ obvious wounds.

"C'mon, guys!" Tidus fought his feeling of lightheadedness, doing his best to not wobble, set on convincing them he did not at all feel as badly as he looked. "Yuna has enough to-"

"READY YOURSELVES!" Auron bellowed from the declined area. "IT'S COMING!"

"What-?!" They all gasped, and jumped apart from their small circle as the fiend lept back from the ledge and crashed it's body to where they were all standing.

"I'm getting real tired of this thing!" Rikku spat, readying herself. "I bet it's still after you for ticking it off!"

Tidus laughed weakly, then took his battle stance, his sword at the ready. "Looks like it's overtime, big guy!"

His knee refused and gave out from under him. Sheer exhaustion coupled with nausea, Tidus faltering to a kneeling position. He tried catching himself with his gold sword for support. Even his arms were shutting down from heavy fatigue to push his body back up. Red, red, and more red kept sliding out of him. From his head, his mouth, his leg...just stop!

The ogre and even Tidus’ Guardian comrades were all screaming at him. Tidus only having a moment to see the bloodthirsty look in the fiend's eyes.

He seemed to black out for a moment, blinded completely by pain. Then everything was coated in a cold numb. The ogre was pinning him against the rock wall with it's enormous hand. The one missing the fingers.

Auron had definitely made a good few hits, but the monster was simply hellbent. Maybe this fiend held a grudge against him for something that happened to them even when he or she was once alive. Sad to say, Tidus had to admit that could be quite a number of individuals. Especially after any of the battles that occurred after the mess at Macalania Temple.

His stomach felt cold rather abruptly and heat was spilling out of him from the particular spot. His bright yellow and gold sword, Avenger, was idly several yards away from him. Tidus boldly glared the ogre in its nasty black eyes, a grin showcasing full bravado that said I dare you to hit me again. It roared at him in response. Spraying putrid saliva in his face, the ogre pulled an arm back to punch Tidus' head into a chunky smear against the rocky wall.

Instead, a massive claw grabbed the ogre’s fist. A black armored giant, though the light of the tiring sun revealed the blue and deep purple hues shadowing its clad form. Both Tidus and the ogre were further eclipsed in the shadow of  two, heavenly massive wings. Bahamut erupted an even greater roar to shame the ogre's previous one and swiftly threw the ogre over its shoulder like it weighed nothing. The fiend had hardly landed from its wet sounding impact before Bahamut hovered gracefully over to tear into the pitiful creature.

Not far from Bahamut was his equally enraged summoner. Tidus' vision was spiraling out of focus, his hand automatically clutching his stomach that was leaking his body's warmth. But the look on Yuna's now stoic face was as intimidating as the dragon she commanded. That sight made him feel colder.

Kimahri and Rikku were holding him up by the shoulders, saying things to him. Probably lectures. Perhaps frantic questions of where he was hurt. He didn't know, nor care. Their voices were too drowned out by that annoying ringing in his head.

"Just," Tidus panted out, unsure if noise was actually leaving his mouth. "...trying...Yuna-" A seizing cough gripping his insides. Rikku and Kimhari dropped their weapons to prevent from him slumping out of their hold.

 

* * *

"Summoning Bahamut was a bit much, Yuna." Lulu said softly, putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Summoning at all was unnecessary." Auron corrected, adjusting his sunglasses to hide his eyes from the campfire. "Kimahri was going to end it."

Yuna said nothing, still gripping her staff and staring hard at the small fire. They would lose another good day or two over that ambush. That was for certain. But she didn't care right now.

The day was far too active with fiend encounters. It was a simple matter of time before a mishap happened. They had gone too long on luck through their first week in the Calm Lands. First it had been the Skoll pack, which was easily taken care of. What they didn't know was that the mutated fiend wolves were fleeing from a fiery stampede of Chimera Brains. Luck thankfully had not completely left them when sized party of Crusaders came to their assistance. They were returning for supplies after training at the bottom of the Gandof Scar gorge.  So quickly had they selflessly come to their assistance.

Yuna wondered that had they not been training all these weeks in isolation, would they still have helped them? They were branded traitors of Yeavon, after all. Would the Crusaders have just passed them by and left them for the fiends if they knew?

Maybe they did know, and simply couldn't abandon others in trouble.

During the stampede, Tidus had gone far out of his way to make it seem like a competition of sorts. Making jokes how the Chimeras should replace the Luca Goers simply because they seemed both friendlier and more attractive. He even had the Crusaders laughing and competing with him to see if who could trick the most chimeras to tangle up themselves by either locking the bull's horns together or confusing the snake head tails.

Truth be told, Yuna laughed during most of it. Most everyone did, Kimahri and Auron even contributed their amused grunts after some had accidentally slain each other. But everyone was well worn out when the ogres appeared. Yuna, Kimahri and Lulu helped to get the injured Crusaders to a safe distance while the others drew off the last violent ogre.

Yuna had felt an overwhelming pang of worry hit her stomach. Someone was badly hurt and she felt it churn the very marrow in her bones. Yuna then sprinted back immediately, startling both Lulu and Kimahri when she bolted away from them.

She arrived to see her worst fear. Her dear Tidus getting crushed into the rocks by that horrible brute.

Just as fast as her emotions fell over her, Bahamut came diving out of the sky.

Bahamut unleashed rage and fear all at once on her behalf, pummeling the ogre into its newly formed personal crater. The brutality did not relent even while the pyre flies were desperately escaping from the broken host.

The last time she had felt such disgusting emotions was surely when she was looking at Seymour's face. Hatred was something she did her best to keep at bay. The things a summoner was capable while under hate's influence were far too dangerous. Though the teachings rang empty in her soul now, many of the messages of Yeavon still held some merit.

It didn't help that an angry looking rock was imbedded into Tidus' gut when the ogre landed a second hit. The sight of all of that red emptying out of the boy she so adored had Yuna thrown into a foreign new level of panic.

It wouldn’t surprise her if it was possibly a rare taste at rage.

"We've been pretty good at keeping things from getting that bad up 'til now." Wakka lamented quietly to himself, his voice heavy with guilt. No doubt her brotherly Guardian was blaming himself for not doing more to get the ogre's fury off Tidus. "Why's he gotta go showing off like that? He hasn't done that since we were in Killika, ya?"

Lulu snorted. "I recall Tidus was much worse after Luca. Particularly the time when he rode around on that Dual Horn and crashed it into some ruins."

Wakka chuckled, clamping a hand over his eyes at the memory playing out in his head. "Oh ho, yeah! The kid will never pass up a shot to steal the show! Always out to impress Yuna, for sure."

Rikku caught Yuna's discomfort at attention being drawn to her, and immediately chose to deflect it away. "Yep! He's definitely gotta be the most creative Guardian out there when it comes to busting up fiends!"

Tidus wheezed, silencing everyone for a moment. It sounded gargled. He was bare from the waist up, aside from being draped with spare cloths that were soaked in a wise mixture (concocted by Rikku's ingenious creativity) comprised of antidotes, phoenix downs and even an x-potion. Yuna was grateful when Lulu suggested they use the x-potion from their reserves to speed up his recovery. Normally she was stingy on their use, since she always insisted such precious items only be used for crucial emergencies.

One thing Lulu tried to keep out of the open was her deep weakness of seeing Yuna languished with worry.

Tidus himself had become a sensitive subject that grew a little harder to address as time passed. In the beginning, Lulu had hoped it was the semblance with Sir Jecht and Lord Braska that caused Yuna’s attachment. She should have known better. The attraction between Yuna and Tidus was too potent not to notice above all their other connections. Yuna hadn't quite had many boys her age quite worthy of her attention back in Besaid, so it should not come as a surprise when she showed interest in Jecht’s son.

It was more inconvenient rather than unsurprising.  

Their first exchange after Yuna's farewell celebration in Besaid, Lulu was instantly wary of Tidus’ involvement in the pilgrimage. Lulu had tried her hand plenty of times to deter anything; from chiding Yuna with a stern look after catching the summoner's lingering glances on the boy. To interrupting Tidus' blatant flirtations poorly disguised as stories of his Zanarkand.

Wakka was mildly helpful, but Lulu was sure all of his discouraging attempts to snuff out those "funny ideas" really only served to further encourage Tidus. The rebellious behavior must have stemmed from his detestment for his father, urging Tidus to do the exact opposite of what he was told.

Sir Auron was a surprise, thinking he would be more strict than she. Instead, Lulu was suspicious that he outright was working against her, Kimahri and Wakka's attempts to subtly separate the summoner and the young guardian.

However, events after Guadosalam and the entire chapter of Seymour's role in Yuna's pilgrimage, that was when the black mage decided to lay down arms. Any worry that the boy perhaps viewed Yuna as a conquest to be had had dissipated. Crisis after crisis, it did well to unveil Tidus' true colors. They were colors of which she actually came to admire.

When Yuna's foundation in Yevon had been shattered to be nothing more than an illusion, Tidus had helped the daughter of High Summoner Braska to regain her faith. Not for a sham religion, no. It was faith in her own strength that had truly carried her this whole way. He did what the other five guardians could never. That was when Lulu knew that he was more thans suitable to be Yuna's guardian. Perhaps Tidus was a better guardian than Kimahri, or even Sir Auron.

As much as Tidus hated escorting Yuna on this suicide mission, he did not outright try to sabotage Yuna's quest. Nor did he try to adamantly convince her out of it, as Rikku was prone to. Still, that did not mean he was resolved to allow the girl to die. Tidus made that blatantly clear. The pure determination in his eyes was brighter than even his striking azure pupils. He would save her.

Lulu wanted to believe he could. She truly envied coming from a world without Sin.

Regardless, Yuna would require that love to continue on. She was strong on her own, no doubt. But the hardest was surely yet to come.

Therefore, a serious injury inflicted on Tidus, Lulu warranted as an emergency. The shaken state Yuna was in since Bahamut's intervention in the earlier battle had proved it. Yuna could hardly bare to look away from Tidus' state for more than a few seconds, her eyes were alert and she was sensitive to any odd noise or movement. Other than muttering her apologies and thanks for any efforts put towards healing Tidus, Yuna was otherwise mute to conversation.

If there was but a fraction of hope Tidus may find an answer to Yuna's survival along with Sin's defeat, the use of even a hundred x-potions would be an insignificant price.

"Here," Lulu graciously passed Yuna the rations first before handing out more to the others.

Yuna forced herself to eat, finishing her portion well before everyone else. Her guardians said nothing as she briskly passed them and knelt next to Tidus.

He was focusing on breathing; inhaling through his nostrils and then easing out a drawn out breath through his mouth. At least, he was trying to. His body would periodically spontaneously flex, shaking every now and then as he gritted his white teeth. Auron had suspected that damage to his spine would likely prove to be the worse ailment than the open wound. Though the gouge in his stomach was mostly closed, he was still a question of fighting the waves of fever and a potential infection.

It took quite a bit of clever convincing on Rikku and Lulu’s part to suggest the idea of rigging a sleep grenade (minus the explosion, of course), to knock out Tidus for a time. Yuna wanted to shout at them for tricking her, since the mist spray from the modified sleep grenade was also meant to knock her out as well. Any protests she managed to get out were silenced when she slumped into a forced sleep.

 

* * *

Yuna jerked awake at the sound of a stifled cough. She clicked her tongue in irritation, instantly recalling how she had fallen asleep.

“They duped you, huh?” Tidus joked, but stiffened in attempts to silence another hollow cough.

As another wave of pain gripped him, Yuna scooted over to his side. She combed one hand through his blonde hair while the other hand laid on top of his chest to remind him reset his breathing. His Zanarkand Abes pendant was cold to her skin, Yuna's fingers absently tracing both the chain and the pattern. Tidus hissed through the spike of pain, bravely riding it out and showing as little of the pain he was experiencing possible.

Though she had diligently been doing all night (before the “nap” of course), Yuna once again swept a Regen spell over him. Either the previous had already worn off, or, she thought miserably, her magic wasn't as strong as he needed.

Tidus' breathing eased as the regeneration spell settled over him, which caught her attention. He cracked open one eye open and a smile tugged from the corner of his mouth. Yuna's heart swelled at the sight of him more relaxed, then naturally reflected a soft smile back at him.

"You're spoiling me." He muttered, voice hoarse and pitiful. An eyebrow playfully twitched upward at her.

She choked a small laugh, immediately needing to sniffle afterwards. The sudden burst of emotion caught her off guard, though it was undoubtedly due to relief. Tidus' tiny smile flattened to an empathetic frown, misinterpreting Yuna's reaction. He lazily lifted a hand to touch her chin. His depth perception was awful, and it took him two tries until Yuna finally grabbed his hand. His half smile curved back up as she indulged them both by pressing her cheek into his hand. It wasn't often he took off his gloves.

Since their wonderful night at Macalania Springs, the two had plenty of slip ups of showing affection for the other. Tidus had been plenty paranoid he was finally going to wake up one morning and find himself castrated. He had his own personal bets between who the culprit would be be: either Kimahri or Lulu. Even if it was meant out of morbid amusement, the idea that it wasn’t impossible to happen still made him shudder. He'd like to think at least Lulu would be cleaner about it.

Much to the Star Player of the Zanarkand Abes' surprise, no one had said anything to the open displays of endearment. The closest they had come to objection was Wakka clearing his throat when Tidus accidentally referred to Yuna as "hun." While it was worth Yuna's reaction for the rest of the day, despite the generic term. Tidus nearly put his whole fist in his mouth after saying it aloud. Yet, even then, it was debatable if Wakka was even put off by it and was simply just clearing his throat from the dry air.

So either they were not noticed or just outright ignored. Or maybe...though it saddened him to think it in this way, the others were allowing it? Aside from religious views being near thrown out the window at this point. But it was in the sense they were granting Yuna her and last small comforts as they neared the end of the journey.

Then, Yuna's life would end.

Tidus tightened his jaw and exhaled sharply. He hated the idea that he and Yuna's romance was only now being tolerated out of pity. They were her friends, her family. Though Tidus couldn't detect any happiness for them. The act was just twisting the knife in their hearts.

Though, Tidus' thoughts countered, it could be a painful reminder of a life Yuna could have lived. It was too hard for them to say anything either way, be it out of opposition or congratulations.

Of all the hatred he harbored, close with even the hatred for his father, Tidus hated their acceptance.

Were it even that he knew this fact from the beginning of their journey, Tidus liked to think he would still be as hellbent on preserving Yuna's life as much as he did now. Although having his hopes getting ripped away all at once certainly forced him to realize quite a few things.

The others looked so worn, and downright haggard by the idea of her imminent death. Rikku was desperately floundering with denial, which was a step better than outright accepting the situation, as far as Tidus was concerned.

Auron was a tight lid, and of no help at all. Auron wasn't dissuading Tidus to give up this vow of his to stop the spiral of death. Tidus had to interpret it as encouragement. He could of laughed in amusement. Maybe no one said anything out of hesitation. Maybe they were all waiting for him to stumble upon that holy grail of an idea where no one needed to die.

"Hey," Tidus called quietly, coming out of the trance. Yuna had been running her hand through his hair, it was hypnotizing. She was brilliant in dulling his pain with her healing magic, and he had hoped in his quiet that she realized he was relaxed and not numbed with the pain. Tidus had to say her name again. Yuna glanced up, her eyes half-lidded and heavy with remorse.

So much for that idea.

"Don't go doing that," He tried to lighten the scolding tone.

"What?" Yuna's eyebrows slanted from confusion.

"Worrying about me. I'll bounce back, this is nothing!" Tidus' wavering voice betrayed his confidence, but he held eye contact to make up for it. His hand slid from her chin to the back of her neck, with Yuna's delicate hand following before pausing at his wrist. "Perks of being a blitzball player, you know. No worries. I'm totally used getting roughed up."

Yuna's expression softened, but not enough to satisfy Tidus. He wished he had worded himself better.

"Does it hurt-"

"I have an idea." Tidus immediately cut in. He needed her to stop fretting over his injuries. He was supposed to be making it easier for her, not adding to her already toppling amount of concerns. He used his free hand to point upward. "Check it out, look up!"

Yuna's reaction scrunched at the odd request, coupled with her disapproval for dismissing her inquires. Yuna knew long ago her involvement in combat would be minimally tolerated, with the obvious risks that would surface. But she would be damned if she could not at least assist her brave guardians. White magic made her feel more useful for all the times she had seen her friends hurtle themselves into battle in the name of her safety.

She sighed silently and glanced up to appease him.

"I really like how easy you can see the stars." Tidus lamely commented.

"It is a lot easier to see them," Yuna agreed. "With no towns around."

Small talk. This could get awkward fast.

"No, I mean," Tidus faltered, dropping his hand to her shoulder. "It's a lot easier to see them here, in Spira. In Zanarkand, there's just so much going on all the time and lots of light pollution, right? Buildings and all the signs on non-stop."

"The City that Never Sleeps." Yuna quoted patiently.

"Yeah, but that's probably the bad thing." Tidus continued, unsure where he was going with this. "See, it used to drive me crazy how quiet it was here, in Spira, when I compared it to back home. I know it sounds weird, but the silence around here just seemed so loud. Like no one was alive and I couldn't stand how dead quiet it is, you know?”

Tidus puffed out a breath, his mind reaching for more of an explanation.  “Just couldn't get away from it, like everyone was hiding or was too scared to make any noise. Heh, maybe that's why I've been such a loudmouth since meeting you guys, huh?"

Yuna bobbed her head with a mirthful humming in the back if her throat. It was a small reaction, but at least it was positive. Or so Tidus tried to think of it as. He watched her push a lock of hair behind her ear, causing the beads on the long earring attachment to jingle lightly.

"Maybe because everyone thought it'd get Sin's attention, or something?” He went on. “I was so used to the noise and the busy life that came with Zanarkand, and it just made me miss it more the quieter is was here. But now..."

Yuna was quiet, stilling even her breath, listening to every word. Tidus dropped his voice quieter for quite a few reasons; out of respect for the others not too far from them, to feel more privacy, and to honestly have Yuna lean in closer.

"Now?" He resumed, switching his gaze between the lights in the sky and the girls' eyes above him. "I think I notice a lot more things. Not blocking everything out like all the buzzy signs trying to sell 'ya something or all the distractions on spheres. And if anything, I sorta think that you guys in Spira appreciate a lot of what's around you more than I did, or anyone else back in my Zanarkand."

Yuna was about to say something, but was internally debating if she could, or should, say it aloud.

_It's because we know too well that we could die any day._

Tidus took a moment to look up, trying to coax Yuna to do the same. Not only were the specks of light that were stars apparent. But the varied shades and textures of the dark expanse above them were easily illuminated by those very lights. Not to mention how massive and clear the moon was, he could practically see all of the glowing edges and blotched craters. Tidus was used to the sky being black, not the faded textures of dozens of mixed, deep blues and disguised violets. The most breathtaking aspect of it all, was the misty like river floating through the sky and dotted with sharpened, twinkling stars. It truly felt like a completely different world every time he looked at Spira's sky. Spira's held so much clarity, but was also brimming with a lonely beauty. If Tidus were ever to return to his Zanarkand, he knew he would always be miss Spria's sky.

"I think all that quiet might be growing on me." He said aloud, turning his head slightly. Yuna was unaware of him right now, though he couldn't help but feel far from her as she looked up at the sky. Tidus could easily guess what she was thinking, from unsure look on her face. The deep expanse of the sky seemed to be drawing her in, and Tidus had to bring her back down.

Yuna had allowed a gentle pull to bring her upper body down, but didn't register for what purpose. The oblivion above was churning up thoughts about what laid in store for her after she defeated Sin and left Spira. Uncertainty was rising in her consciousness, though normal with any human facing death, still all the unsettling. There was so little she actually knew of life, and yet, what little attachments she held to this life it still frightened her to abandon them.

Tidus' hands had pulled Yuna's head down in the final tug, both figuratively and physically. Now his bare fingers were parting through her hair, his nails dragging lightly on her scalp in a ticklingly soothing way.

Tidus was once again the instigating force, but as soon as Yuna registered the closing distance, she sped it up at the last moments.  

In a second, there were quite a few things to take in. A warmth that left a stinging sensation spreading from her chest, like she had inhaled a deep breath of steam and it was now spreading to her fingertips. The skin on her finger pads tingled nervously as she touched the taut surface of Tidus' sun dark skin. The single glance at his eyes before he closed them. Being able to count each eyelash at their close distance, were it not for his distracting warm breath on her face. An invisible hand seemed to clench over both her lungs and erratically beating heart when Tidus impatiently landed their mouths together.

He was slightly more aggressive than the time at the Lake, as if he didn't think he had enough of her attention already. Equivalent to hitting the ground running with his eagerness. After a simple introductory kiss, Tidus's teeth caught her bottom lip and squeezed and pulled the flesh. It was both foreignly pleasurable with an aftertaste of pain. Enjoying the pinching feel was strange to her, thus caught her off guard. She quickly inhaled in surprise. She felt Tidus' mouth smile for a second, then parting more on his end to take her in. His tongue to pushed into her mouth, stealing her breath yet again in the process.

Yuna's face seared with heat. Partially from her embarrassing inexperience, another third from the act itself and the last third came from with whom she was sharing herself with. She was unsure on how to respond, although pulling away never occurred to her. Her jaw went slack on its own, allowing Tidus to continue. His tongue curled and did what felt to be a flipping motion, causing her stomach to tighten and flip in unison. He did it again, but slower, and it wasn't until she felt a heavy hand on her side under her arm that she realized he was trying to get her to follow her lead.

She shyly pushed his tongue back with her own, and she could feel Tidus' laugh from the back of his throat at the motion. Her breath hitched as he touched the sensitive side of her ribs, reaching bare skin. She pushed back again, trying to see if it was possible if she were to catch him. She ended up moving into his mouth, grazing his smooth teeth. The circling motions his thumb was making against her skin was causing all sorts of knots in her chest to tighten. Especially with her personal attire, he was unknowingly (likely knowingly, Yuna might was naive, but not a fool) teasing soft skin barely hidden under the black hem of clothing and coming close to her breast.

She paused for a moment to take a breath, and an embarrassing noise accompanied it. Once again, she felt the rumble of another one of his chuckles from from his throat. He gave her a light, somewhat apologetic peck for finding amusement in her embarrassment before pulling her back in full on. Yuna's head felt heavy, seemingly drunk on feeling Tidus' mouth.

The giddiness in her gut was only spreading, elating her to not only dismiss the full on grope Tidus' hand now had over her chest. Instead, she pushed her chest into his hand to coax another grope from him, surprising Tidus instantly. He immediately repeated the motion, only more slowly. Starting by pressing his palm into her and then rolling his hand in a motion press against it. The squeeze went straight to her brain, and Yuna's forehead pressed against Tidus as the shudder played out. Her mouth detached from his, and it widened to a muted moan as she took in the pleasure. Tidus surprise intensified by her paralyzing reaction, then dared to further it by firmly circling a thumb as if trying to find or guess at the areola. She bit her lip when Tidus’ thumb passed over the nipple, despite it clothed by two layers, a pitched but suppressed moan flattened out. Though it was too trapped in her throat for it to travel far to be heard by the others, Tidus definitely heard it. Yuna could feel his excitement spike, and yet he pulled away his hand.

Before the summoner could even grasp the idea of protesting, Tidus then halted all his reciprocations. Yuna pulled back for a moment, feeling stranded.

"Yuna, I..." He began, panting and squeezing his eyes further shut. "I'm getting a bit too into this."

She could only answer at first by trying to catch her breath. She was worse off than him, that was certain.

Yuna was tingling all over, it felt near unbearable for them to stop. She doubted she would have slowed or even stop hadn't Tidus done so.

“I don’t want to stop...” The summoner admitted sheepishly, gripping a wad of grass in sheer frustration to trying and already failing to control herself. Her eyes kept looking hopefully back at his mouth, despite how shameful she felt for wanting to keep going.

Tidus’ eyes widened and he looked speechless, especially realizing he did not think Yuna was capable of looking lustful.

Yuna bit back the regret of letting herself dive into her affections. They probably shouldn’t have gotten so carried away. No, Yuna corrected, she was the one that had gotten carried away. While what they had was so new to her, but the summoner refused to allow that to be an adequate excuse in her inability to control her own hormonal urges.

"W-we will stop for now." She managed to say and then cleared her throat. She let out a deep breath and scooted away, letting a late night breeze separate them and chill their blood.

Regretful as it was, Tidus was pleased all too about hearing her say " _for now_."

They were quiet for a moment, Yuna attempting to straighten out herself, despite there being little need to do so. Tidus wiped the palm of his thumb over his mouth, proudly surprised at how slick it had become.

Were it not for his injuries, he was unsure on if he could eased off when he did. Yuna followed his lead, at first, but she was certainly catching on quick.  

His thoughts darkened as she started to check the moist cloths laying over his closed wounds, reminding him why he was in this situation was in the first place. Guilt must of been written all over his face, and Yuna looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

"It's okay." She said suddenly. "You don't have to apologize."

"Huh?" Tidus stared at her in wonder for a long moment, then clamped his mouth shut. She knew what he was going to apologize, despite going around in circles in his head get himself actually to verbalize it.

"You always apologize after a bad fight." She stated simply, then kissed him chastely on the tip of his nose. Yuna reached to hold his face, and doing that sad smile that drove Tidus insane. The smile that made him try even harder. "But you hadn't brought it up yet, I just thought you should know that it's alright."

"Well, we _did_ get distracted." Tidus mildly retorted with a suggestive tone, childishly trying to deter the subject. Yuna covered her mouth to block a sly smile from view and looked away for a bit. She then recomposed herself again to return to the cloths arranged on his abdomen.

Tidus sighed. She may have forgiven him outright, yet he still felt the need to get it off his chest.

"I screwed up big, I know." The words were easier to say aloud than he anticipated, and Yuna tensed slightly as he unearthed the subject. "It was ugly to begin with and just got worse, but I thought....I thought that if, maybe... _argh_!" He smacked a hand on his forehead, but instantly regretting the motion when his spine screeched the bolts of pain up and down his back. 

 

Yuna immediately saw the reaction as he let out a cry of pain. She gently took the hand he hit himself with and put it back by his side. She hushed him as he gripped and seethed through the spouting tantrums of pain washing back and forth from his spine.

She grabbed the assistance of her summoner staff this time, holding it above him with one hand, while the other held one of his hands. Yuna only let got to press the backside of her hand against his neck for his pulse, checking Tidus’ heart rate to be sure, then matching what she needed to with her magic.

"Auhhhhhh," Tidus breathed aloud, then started to lightly chuckle. Sweat was gathering on him, and insides ached from the constant barrages of pain. "I was just trying to get everyone to lighten up. It's stupid, and probably the dumbest thing to almost get killed for...but..."

The smile Yuna was wearing now clearly loudly translated to him, " _You are a moron._ " 

Of course Yuna would never be that outwardly harsh to him, Tidus grumbled at himself for being so simple minded. 

"I understand," She said as she let her staff roll out of her hands and adeptly catch it in her other as she wove through motions for the spell. "Just," Yuna paused long enough to give him a hard look of concern. He felt his heart chip at the profound look of worry. "...be more careful." 

He gulped a bit, dismissing the aches in him trying to climb back up as sharper pains. "Yeah, I will."

They were quiet as Yuna layered her magic on him like a thick blanket.  The awkwardness trenched with his guilt until he couldn't look at Yuna anymore.

"This better not be an all night thing," Tidus griped, hating the silence no matter how peaceful. "You need actual sleep, Yuna."

"I'll stay with you all night." She reassured, the end of the staff guiding the white magic along. “And all morning, too.” Tidus groaned again.

His heart skipped several beats before jumping in his throat, because Yuna had leaned back down by his ear. "Not just because you're hurt. Even still. . . I would still want to."

Tidus swallowed dryly. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears. Yuna had no idea that had come off more suggestive than to him than she probably intended.

"And, like you said before... _always_. Right?" Yuna’s expression was now too adorable for Tidus to comprehend.

Forget if it sounded trite. Tidus knew exactly what she was referencing. So, how was a guy supposed to respond to a beautiful girl after making a beautiful statement like that?

He couldn't follow that act, not with his mind drawing blank when having to look at her against Spira's night sky. So, he meekly nodded and only remembered to smile at the last minute. "Right."

 ****  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! It will get more...mature later, I'm trying not to rush ideas too much. I'm only meaning to push boundaries that may of fit with the in-game events, without trying to outright break them. Well, at some point, I will probably break that. No promises.
> 
> Next will likely take place either before the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth. At this point, I have no idea how long this fic is going to be. Nor can I promise when the next one will be written? No schedule, no plots of its own aside from the actual story plot itself. 
> 
> For the long road, I want to drag it out before the Dream of the Fayth twist (which, I know we all hate). I don’t THINK it’ll go beyond that point, though I have little ideas, I KNOW that would dramatically affect and alter Tidus' thinking after that point in the story. To which, I am unsure if I would be a capable of it. Not just writing wise, but emotionally and mentally! I am not that keen on putting myself in Tidus’ head when he’s at that point in the story. Granted, I know he's focused on keeping Yuna alive no matter what, but we all know despite him utterly loathing the idea of Yuna sacrificing herself, he goes and……..
> 
> The kettle and the pot make for a lovely couple. 
> 
> Al Bhed Translations
> 
> Tebcred: "Dipshit."


End file.
